Introduction

This document contains an initial sketch of a procedure by which POSC Caesar (PCA) shall maintain and update the PCA Reference Data Library (PCA RDL), based on ISO 15926 and hosted by PCA Reference Data Services (PCA RDS).

Project Objective

The goal of this procedure is to describe the criteria and activities required to be performed by the various PCA Special Interest Groups (SIG), in order to add, modify and delete Reference Data from the parts of the PCA RDL for which they have been assigned responsibility.

Proposed Scope

The procedure is based on ISO STD_DBs N52 (Rev.1) "Procedure for the development and maintenance of standards in database format." However, it is limited to maintenance of existing standard items (and does not include development of new standards, nor review and withdrawal of existing standards).

Furthermore, the procedure only deals with maintenance action following the so-called "normal database procedure" which makes use of a Validation Team and a workflow around a dataset for information sharing; and is used by ISO for validation of new items or item combinations that are within the boundary of existing rules.

This excludes actions according to the ISO "original procedure" relying on circulation of documents with standardized content to the National Bodies (i.e., to the PCA member companies in the case of the PCA RDL). It also excludes actions according to the ISO "Extended database procedure" which has the same stages and time frames as the "original procedure" but is implemented as a workflow around a database.

Procedural steps, actions, time-frame and responsibility

The procedure is described in a summary fashion, highlighting the action(s) that are required on each step, as well as the required time-frame and associated responsibility.

Figure 1 below illustrates the steps, decisions and status updates associated with the process for proposed maintenance of the PCA RDL. The sections following subsections describe the various steps.

Initiation of Change Request

When a Change request (CR) is received from a Proposer in an RD Update File with the specified RD Input Format, the submitted CR is entered into the PCA RDL Request Log with status identifier "submitted" and the Proposer is automatically notified.

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Figure 1: Logical steps in the process for updating and extending the PCA RDL

Preparation for evaluation

The CR is checked for completeness and consistency by the PCA RD Maintenance Team staff. This includes ensuring that all mandatory administrative and meta-data entries are appropriately filled-in and that any necessary accompanying items are of a quality sufficient for evaluation.

If this initial check is satisfactory the CR is given status identifier "for evaluation" and the Proposer is notified about the status update. If the CR is deemed not to be satisfactory, the Proposer is notified with the reason(s) for rejection. This shall take place within a maximum of 5 (five) working days after receiving the CR (after the status identifier was set to "submitted").

Evaluation of the Change Request

If the quality of the information in the Work Package (CR) is satisfactory, the PCA RD Maintenance Team Staff sets the status of the Change Request to "for validation" and notifies the Proposer about status update. If the CR is deemed not to be satisfactory, the Proposer is notified with the reason(s) for rejection. Notification shall take place within 5 (five) working days after initial acceptance of the CR (after the status identifier was set to "for evaluation").

If considered practical, the PCA RD Maintenance Team Staff may decide to combine items under more than one CR into one Work Package, or to separate items submitted under one CR into several Work Packages, in order to assign relevant parts of the CR (database items) to (one or more) relevant PCA SIG.

Preparation for validation

The PCA SIG Validation Team Responsible determines whether the Change Request (Work Package) is within the scope of the PCA RDL and valid for evaluation (or should be rejected),

Notification shall be sent to the PCA RD Maintenance Team within 5 (five) working days after receiving the Work Package (10 working days after the status identifier was set to "for validation").

Validation of the Change Request

For the validation to be satisfactory (valid) more than half (a simple majority) of the PCA SIG Validation Team members must approve the proposed updates.

This must be completed within a maximum of 30 (thirty) working days after the PCA SIG Validation Team sends its decision about the Work Package (CR) back to the PCA RD Maintenance Team.

Resolution of the CR

Given evaluation of the PCA SIG Validation team, the Work Package may be

approved for inclusion in the PCA RDL.

sent back to the Proposer with requests for modification.

sent back to the Proposer with requests for modification and resubmittal.

rejected.

The decision of the PCA SIG Validation Team is communicated back to the PCA RD Maintenance Team within five (5) working days after the necessary number of members has completed their validation.

Implementation of CR

After a CR is approved (either directly or after required modification), the PCA RD Maintenance Team staff uploads/changes any required in the PCA RDL, sets the status identification to "resolved" and notifies the Proposer about implementation. This shall take place within 10 (ten) working days receiving the decision of acceptance by the PCA SIG Validation was received by the PCA RD Maintenance Team

Thus the maximum total time from receiving an initial Change Request to Implementation (given that everything is accepted on first pass) shall be 60 (sixty) working days.

Figure 2 below shows the information flow between the different participants in the PCA RD maintenance procedure, with status of CR and database items, as well as timeline for status actions and updates.

The note should probably continue the process description with description of tasks for normal database procedure. This is not required for PCA RD Maintenance procedure, but important for presentation of procedure to ISO.